I know I know better. That's why I gave the caveat of "If I didn't know better". But you are closer to saying it than you think...

What if a technique is found to upload the contents of the brain to a piece of hardware which still allows us to think and function in our thoughts as we do now? What happens then? We load ourselves into a quantum computer and head for the stars without a single vestige of our former physical selves. What's running in the computer?

You say a program simulating our thoughts, others would say a soul. I say, "What's the difference?"

w